A variety of devices have been proposed for dealing with the problem of scale formation when mineral-containing water is subjected to a heat cycle, such as in a boiler, heat exchanger, cooling tower, or the like. Many of these devices have employed permanent magnetics mounted on the outside of a pipe which conducts the mineral-containing water. These devices form a fixed magnetic field in the area where they are located. This fixed magnetic field causes calcium to separate from the water to form aragonite crystals. Such crystals typically have a rough surface and thus can mechanically lock together to block narrow passages in the water system.
Italian patent application Ser. No. VT 92 A 000.07, filed Jul. 27, 1992, which was laid open for inspection between Jan. 27, 1994 and Feb. 25, 1994, discloses a water treatment system employing a piloted reluctance transformer connected to four coils which are wound around a metal pipe carrying the water which is to be treated. Unlike the devices employing permanent magnets, this device creates a varying magnetic field in the water passing through the pipe which interacts with calcium and other ions so as to reduce the tendency of such ions to precipitate within the system. The effect is most pronounced on calcium ions and, in many cases, can essentially completely prevent precipitation of these ions. This interaction between the varying magnetic field and the ions within the water also kills bacteria and inhibits the growth of algae.
Although the device of the above Italian patent application has been found to work successfully in practice, it has had a limitation in that its operation has been sensitive to the frequency of the supply current applied to the piloted reluctance transformer. In particular, the performance of the device drops off significantly when the frequency deviates from the design frequency by more than about .+-.5 hertz. The design frequency of the device of the Italian patent application was 50 hertz, and thus performance was significantly degraded outside of the range from about 45 hertz to about 55 hertz. In particular, performance was degraded at 60 hertz, the nominal line frequency in the United States and other countries.